>> right now on newschannel8 at 5:30. >> tonight on newschannel8, hair care or shampoo nightmare? thousands of women are losing their hair. the pricey products that seem to be backfiring. >> i'm jennifer leigh. >> i'm josh benson. >> tonight it is a hair care nightmare. thousands of women going bald and all of em in common. they claim it happened after using the popular shampoo wen. women across the u.s. including right here in tampa bay have shared stories of shame, anger and frustration after losing chunks of hair. a staggers 21,000 complaints have been lodged so far.

michael talked with these women about this. it is a nightmare to have clumps of hair coming out. >> reporter: imagine that every single day, women who have used this product have experienced it firnd forward to share their hair care nightmare. >> when you brush your hair, you can hear it coming out. >> reporter: this brooksville mother of two has been heartbroken for the last ten months after losing chunks of hair. she began going bald after using the popular shampoo wen. >> i vacuum my house and everything that is in there is hair. >> reporter: 8 on your side has followed tina's case coastally, she received a letter from the

investigating 21,000 complaints across the country from women who used wen. congress is trying to get tougher laws passed to give the fda more power to issue mandatory recalls on products deemed unsafe. >> obviously, there is is a problem. if it is 21,000 claims, that is a lot. >> reporter: bobby russell is a certified tricoologist. >> we turn on the tv. and the infomercial promises us all of these things. the consumers were sold on the promise. i do agree that we need to have regulations that let us know what is going on with our bodies. that at least we are confident that what is being sold is

of folks talking about this and many people have questions. we have posted a special question on our website for those of you who have used wen or want more information. we have provided links to the fda website showing which products are getting the most complaints. they are not cheap. they are $35 a bottle and you can buy the whole hair kit which as you saw, it is $130. this is not a cheap problem. >> but bobby russell hit the nail on the head, no pun intended. you see nit an infomercial. you assume it is safe. >> reporter: you see hair flowing all over the place. >> they are believing the promises. >> reporter: a lot of investigation is going on with the fda. it is not the end of this. >> thank you mel. alarming news about the zika virus tonight as well. doctors confirm the first

it involves a man in el paso, texas. he traveled to south florida where mosquitoes are blamed for sickening 30 people. he went to the doctor and a blood test confirmed he had the zika virus. it is the first known travel related case of zika in the united states. a gruesome murder in martin county has neighbors neighbor was being attacked. they found this man austin harouf savagely biteing the man's face. the man was dead. and his wife as well. investigators are determining what has happened. >> it does look, as inexplicably as it sounds like an unprovoked random attack. we will do sampling of his

flakka or bath salt. >> the neighbor who called 911 was also stabbed while trying to help. he is expected to be okay. harouf is a student at florida state university. his parents live in the neighborhood where the attack happened. a woman's rampage inside of a jacksonville gas station caught on camera. you can see the woman taking things off the shelf and just thousanding them aisles. the cashier locked the doors and calmed the police and she started throwing things off the shelves. after a few minutes of her destruction, he let her leave. the search is on for a female postal employee who dumped hundreds of pieces of undelivered mail right there in the dumpster behind a lee county restaurant. among the dumped may, post guards, bills, personal checks.

local real estate firm as well. >> you have one job. that's to deliver the mail. and you threw it in the trash. it is not free. it is not cheap. it is is a big part of my business. so it is pretty frustrating to know that they are not getting to people. >> agents with the inspector general's office are investigating the crime and looking for that postal carrier. the mail was processed and will be delivered. some unpleasant loiterers are being blamed for three people inside a car that crashed into a ditch in colliar dun county. they say gators drifted menacingly around their half swamped vehicle. on their drive to the rescue. deputies saw a gator too. all three inside the car are now safe. two charlotte county deputies are hailed heros after they rescued a man who was struck by lightning on his jet ski. after a flash of light and a

spotted 22-year-old william stephanie drifting in the water next to his jet ski. deputies swam more than 60 yards to get him. they performed cpr on the dock. stephanie, while alive, is now in critical condition at the hospital. back to business today at the olympics for team usa. >> we will take you to rio for a look at how team usa is bouncing back from a couple of setbacks. >> well, a toasty 94 degrees for a high. a pretty good shower moving over the airport helping to drop the te but not everyone saw rain today. we will look at tomorrow's rain chances and look ahead to the weekend coming up. >> we'll have that and more coming up. you're watching newschannel8.

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>> well today, another one of those day s with the easterly flow. temperatures got pretty hot. 86 degrees here at nissan of venice. this is a time lapse of the south part of sarasota county. you saw the clouds coming and going. the view from connerton in land o' lakes, 82 degrees. rain cooled some showers nearby. and you don't have showers to actually cool off. you can see the outflow. a little overcast here. one tenth of an inch of rain. and at hyundai up in new port richey. traffic looks good anyway. overall mostly cloudy skies. the easterly flow in place. all the shower activity moving from east to west across the region. maybe a little bit drier. lower rain chances for us. the westerly flow will redevelop over the weekend. that will bring the possibility

areas. maybe a little warmer to start the day. headed out to the rays game. going to try to tailgate, it will be at least a little cooler thanks to the showers that passed over. 94 degrees. the record set at 1960. a long time ago. forecast tomorrow, we are looking at temperatures near 90 at 8:00 a.m. 93 at 4:00 p.m. scattered thunderstorms pushing west as the day goes along. showers and thunderstorms as you can see these are the complex of thunderstorms not at severe levels. still some light to moderate rain across central pinellas at this point. these showers rolling across the southern sections of polk county along the southern sections of polk county and highway 27 and this one south of north port looking to move to the west.

one may be headed your way. temperatures will be warm. low 80s . at most locations, there are 70s on the map. this number is from the airport. you can see downtown tampa here, mostly overcast conditions. in the tropics, this tropical wave we have talked about a couple of days has about a 90% chance of development into a tropical depression. potentially a named storm. likely lit stay out at sea. that is what the computer models are indicating. as we look at some of the spaghetti models, you can see keeping it we that is us here in the state of florida. there is is a more robust tropical wave. just that time of year, we look at africa pretty closely. short term, maybe a few remaining showers. things quiet once again. you can see shower activity well off to the east. as we get throughout the day tomorrow, partly cloudy skies to start the day. a lot of sunshine. temperatures, a fast warmup. we are not expecting much in

temperatures get very warm. i think the measurement spot at tampa international airport tends to stay a little cooler. as we get into wednesday evening the storms will make it to the coast. move into the gulf like we are seeing today and pushing offshore. as we get into the early part of thursday, mostly sunny skies. wednesday, 40% rain chance. 93 for a we start to transition back with the westerly flow. can't rule out the possibility of a morning shower moving east as the day goes along. summertime, summertime, summertime. >> keeps on rolling. >> you said it. all right, thank you steve. >> all right. well, a sumter county man was shocked after he was arrested for shooting an alligator that attacked his horses and nearly killed his

joins us now live. so it sounds like he was protecting his property. so what's the story here? >> reporter: yeah, good evening josh. that's the way reggie blanton sees it. he believes this very large alligator was about to attack his horses so he shot it and things got crazy. >> i don't know if he came out of that pond. there is another one over there by the fence. >> reporter: reggie is 74 years old and has lived in florida all his life. he knew something was wrong when horses started acting very strangely. >> i took my gun, went out there. because i didn't know what was out there. >> reporter: he saw an alligator just a few feet away from the horses. >> i think he was after the mini horses. >> reporter: he took out a nine millimeter and shot. >> i shot him four times and hit him three. >> reporter: his son-in-law arrived and walked over close to the alligator. >> when he raised up, after my stepson, looked like he was

i had never seen nothing like it. >> reporter: the next thing jack saw was teeth. >> it was a burst of lightning. it was just surprise. >> reporter: the gator clamped down on his leg. a teenager pulled him to safety. the alligator nearly ten feet long is shown in this photo taken after he was killed by the fwc. arriving sheriffs deputies surrounded the alligator. >> it was like a dozen cops out there with high-powered rifles. >> reporter: the next surprise came la arrived arresting hilrid and blanton. he was cited for unlawfully killing the alligator. >> if i had left him alone, he would have had my horses. >> reporter: florida law says no person shall buy, take, possess, transport, or any import any american alligator except by permit and that is

>> but what about his story? he told you he was protecting his horses. isn't he allowed to do that? >> reporter: well, we have asked the fwc that question. they haven't gotten back to us yet. i think it is a question that all of us want answered josh. >> okay, jeff patterson live, thanks so much. now, 8 on your side special coverage of the rio olympics. >> team usa got a jump on the competition in rio today. there were several golden moments as the united states lookto couple of setbacks. jack doles joins us live from rio. hey, how are things looking over there? >> reporter: much better today jen. after their first goldless day of the olympics, they didn't waste any time finding the top of the podium. a gold in the long jump. to say will clay had himself a day would be an understatement of the olympic games.

proposed to queen harrison. she said yes and he was in seventh heaven. >> as soon as i got this flag, i went up there and i met up with my family and she was right there. and i just, i got down on one knee, man. and ... and popped that question. and she said yes. so, it is an amazing feeling man. today is the best day of my life. >> reporter: christian taylor had a pretty good day himself. he won the gold. one of sport's most recognizable figures, mayweather jr. was in rio cheering on team usa and taking care of business for his company. floyd is spending time in the boxing venue looking for new fighters. tonight on nbc, one of the biggest names of the rio games. you will see simone biles go after a fourth gold medal and a somehowdown on the sand as the volleyball team takes on brazil.

that should be one of the better matchups here in rio. i will tell you, jen, not going to give away any secrets but you are not going to want to miss gymnastics. >> even if you couldn't avoid the spoils which have been all over social media, it is still such watchable tv don't you think? >> reporter: absolutely. it is must-see tv, especially when the americans are just crushing everybody in this medal count. >> it is fun we will talk to you later. our own paul ryan is also in rio. you can catch his live reports every morning on newschannel8. you can watch the special extras he is putting together under the olympics section of wfla.com. >> there are pretty mighty weird things at the bottom of the ocean, but a recent sea exploration shows there are cute things as well.

creature. scientists encountered a few weird creatures but the squid definitely stole the show. speaking of stealing the show, watch an electric delivery van straight up destroy a dodge viper in a quarter mile drag race. this video posted by electric auto makers shows the cargo van pull 0 to 60. they roasted that viper and leaving doubters of electric vehicles pretty shocked. well, you have seen baby on board signs but this is ridiculous, watch this minnesota woman shred at nearly 40 weeks pregnant. it is posted just days before she gave birth to this little guy, her son. she did get her doctor's blessing before hanging ten in the viral video. >> i'm guessing that she did that before she was pregnant. because that is quite some center of gravity there. >> very impressive. yes. all right, well, a shooting scare at jfk airport.

what a new video from inside the terminal r reveals. >> and you can join us on newschannel8 at 8:00 on great

david was proud to be an american soldier. and i know i'm prejudiced because he was my son,

when i saw donald trump attack another gold star mother, i felt such a sense of outrage. "she was standing there, she had nothing to say..." if donald trump cannot respect a gold star family, then why would anyone in america think he would respect them.

of criminal wrong doing. 600,000 diesel powered vehicles in the u.s. were part of the cheat. video shows people down on the ground while security search for a possible gunman coming off a plane said she thought she heard gunfire. about 45 minutes later, a second call came in reporting shots fired in terminal one. terminal eight and terminal one were placed on lockdown, but no shooter or any evidence of shots fired were found. police believe the call was a hoax, people may have been cheering for the olympics and it may have been mistaken for

down. the monte carlo tower came tumbling down. it closed after 60 years hosting headliners from liberacci to dean martin and it was a backdrop to sever movies. keith and stacie are here with what is next. >> a teacher tragically taken from the school who loved her. >> and how another teacher in the is doing tonight. >> plus, children forced to live in filthy conditions. what invest investigators say they found in the home. >> and millions of taxpayer dollars pumped into a public housing complex. now, it is leaking. so, two who is to blame for the mess? mark is on it because you paid for it. >> a beloved librarian was laid to rest one week after she was accidentally killed at a

sports with dan lucas coming up

>> right now on newschannel8 at 6:00. >> lives forever changed by a drunk a teach sore dead and her boyfriend is fighting to survive. >> a child neglect case that will make your stomach turn. what investigators found inside a house where five children lived. >> plus, a leaky mess you paid for. how much out of the of it is a bigger problem? >> i'm stacie schaible. >> i'm keith cate. thank you for joining us tonight. so much pain caused by one bad decision. a music teacher severely

crash is dead. her boyfriend struggles in a hospital bed now. jamel lanee joins us live from bay front health in saint petersburg. we heard that shawn hankens had a broken back. how is he doing tonight? >> reporter: well, he remains here in critical condition at the hospital. we are told that shawn doesn't even know that caroline gone. >> unbelievable. a beautiful soul. >> reporter: karin still can't believe music teacher and friend caroline sine is gone. the two met when boyfriend shawn invited her out to watch him play in his band. karin's husband is also in the group. >> shawn introduced her to us at a venue and we fell in love with her. >> reporter: she said the two were inseparable. caroline practiced with them